User blog:Brady26/Carnath Roadhouse
At the midway point of their journey to Easthearth, the group leaves the Troll's End Inn and sets off further up the road through the Drowned Lands. At the next stop the caravan encountered a pair of beautiful twin girls, Arietta and Zelina Innevar, who took a liking to Barion. During the night the woman offered to buy a great amount of drink from Sechepol, the Ertvine Wine merchant, for a great deal of the caravan. Whilst the rest of the caravan drank, Barion was approached by Arietta who began asking him questions about himself, where he was from and where he was going, eventually asking him to help translated a spell her and her sister had discovered. When they arrived at the wagon, the two sisters revealed themselves to be doppelgangers, who attacked Barion, attempting to steal his identity. Managing to subdue the half-elf wizard, it was not until Rack, who had been carving wooden statues with his employers, and later Kadmos, who had been drifting off to sleep in his meditations, came to his aid that they were able to defeat the changelings. Deciding to execute the surviving creature, Darion arrived to heal his brother who had been badly wounded by the creatures. The next day the caravan entered a region different to the swamps and marshes that had dominated much of their journey, a herd of deer being spotted on a nearby hill, and hunters gathered to collect meat for the caravan. With the herd was a gold stag with a magnificent coat and horns that shone like platinum, and many sought to hunt the creature for its valuable hide and antlers. Darion disapproved of the hunters actions, believing the creature to clearly be blessed by the gods and set off alone into the forest to pursue them. Doing his best to track the hunters, Darion ended up tracking the very thing the hunters sought, and was soon a clearing filled with ruins with the great stag looking down at him. The creature bowed as Darion did, thinking it a blessed beast, but when he looked up instead of a stag there stood an elf with antlers just like it, wearing a robe of gold. Stepping forward the elf introduced himself as of the Enclave, and told the paladin of the Hallowed Assault that he was on the right path, that he must keep travelling the path of gold to reach the castle in the sky, that the journey will be filled with hardship and blood, and that that not all will survive. To aid them the druid drew a fragment of his antlers and shaped it into a bow, and departed, changing form back to the stag before Darion could question him further. Returning to the caravan, Darion gifted the bow to Kadmos, the weapon reforming to shape the new wielder. Continuing on, the caravan soon reached roads more akin to those they had encountered previously, poor drainage, foul smelling and covered in muck. It was here that the caravan would stop briefly at Fildebach village, a strange community of unwelcoming folk, that did not care for the outsiders. Being one of the few towns they had come across, the group entered looking for a tavern or inn to drink, especially if it was dry as the rain was unrelenting as they had reached the Meer itself. Seeing what looked like a tavern, set in the hull of a embanked ship, the group saw some sort of sermon being delivered by a strange man covered in seaweed that drank the raw dark waters of the Meer. Intrigued by the faith of those gathered, Darion stood in the middle of the ceremony, interrupting the rituals that were being undertaken and began to ask which god would require such strange rituals, the priest or leader of this group furious that an interloper would come into their hallowed site, demanded the paladin leave, instead however Darion mocked the man and his appearance, continuing to demand answers from the man in front of the villagers. The man eventually signalled to his acolytes and invited Darion to join him below to see which god they worship, the villagers and acolytes grabbing him, attempting to push the giant man into the waters, Darion barely managing to push back against the crowd to keep his footing on the slick dock. Barion came to his aid, commanding that they villagers cease immediately, the acolytes relenting and the villagers losing their nerve, as they dispersed. Spending some time in the village the group found it unwelcoming and miserable and soon departed back to the rest of the caravan to spend the night. Further along, the caravan encountered some harder road and a cult wagon broke an axle, some of its stolen contents spilling out onto the road. The group witnessed this, seeing the gold, Kadmos approached an exasperated half-elf that was ordered to clean up the mess by a teamster leader. Kadmos helped the young man as the rest of the group looked on, pretending not to be wholly interested in what was happening. Identifying himself as Rit Keenblade, the man thanked Kadmos for his help, warning him to watch out that Annan, the wagon teamster did not see him helping him. Noting which wagon it was, the group was now sure that Leosin and Frume were correct, and that the cultist were taking the gold up north. Discussing how they should approach this new information, whether they should attack the cultists or take over their wagon. Deciding to stay the course, the group saw on the road before them what appeared to be a human head, as they approached they realised it was a person buried up to their neck in the road with the word 'Oathbreaker' scrawled across his forehead. Kadmos approached the man and offered assistance, doing his best to revive the man, and witch assistance from Darion the man was revived from unconsciousness. Asking what oath the man had broken, Darion was very suspicious of the man, but Barion and Kadmos began to dig him out, the process taking about an hour as they had to dig down deep to excavate him, the rest of the caravan passing them by to have a look, many of the travellers saying they should leave the man to his fate, if someone took the time to bury him he probably deserved it. Growing impatient, Darion pulled the man out. Asking him his name he gave it as Carlon Amoffel, someone that Leosin had told them was on a similar mission to them. Officially his story was that he was betrothed to a woman whose family were bandits and he had been expected to join them, he refused and they buried him. To the group however, how told him they knew he was an Unbidden agent hunting the cult, though, as he had just been buried and left for dead when that fact was discovered by others he was reluctant to admit it. He told them that there were people in Easthearth who would be able to verify that they were working with the Unbidden, as none of them had joined the organisation he could not take their word they were allies. Discussing where the rest of the gold must be hidden in the caravan, the group believed they had two leads: Leda Widris the human guard was not travelling to see snow as she had claimed, but was instead meeting someone in Easthearth as a secret rendezvous, and that Lasfelro the Silent had not revealed the contents of his wagon to anyone and his guard gargoyle prevented anyone from inspecting it. Deciding that they had no reason to be suspicious of Leda, Kadmos began chatting with Lasfelro who had grown to like him over the journey. After three days of inquiring and earning his trust, Lasfelro revealed the contents of the wagon to him, an empty coffin covered in elvish script from the Quel'Doran Empire. Surprised but relieved, that his friend was not a cultist Kadmos thanked him for trusting him. Informing the group of the development, Darion believed that they could be a vampire in the caravan, though Barion pointed out that nobody has been attacked by one, and surely they would have noticed people going missing in a strange manner. The group decided to be vigilant, but not to accuse anyone or risk ruin the secrecy they had from the cultists that were unaware they were leading the group right to their meeting place. Around fifty days into their journey, whilst Barion and his wagon leader Sechepol were serving drinks to a couple of men, one of them, a man named Munder was speaking of some camp and some friend of theirs that was killed. Eventually, after gaining courage from his drink, the man approached Kadmos, who was sitting with Lasfelro, and accused him of murdering his friend Jerri, the watchman whose murder had broken their cover at the Raider's Camp back in Greenest. Munder seemed to think that Kadmos was a deserter from the cult, but his friend pulled him back before he started a fight. Confused, as Kadmos did not understand what the man was accusing him of at first, he soon realised as he talked with the group. Not looking to blow their cover, and Lasfelro not wishing to draw too much attention to themselves, the wagon Munder was with and theirs kept apart from one another. The caravan entered the town of Blackford, though many locals had begun calling it Bleakford, where the group looked to shop for magical items dredged from the Meer, as well as buy a warm bed and a good drink. Visiting many different stores, Barion sought to memorise the Find Familiar spell, but was unable to find a scroll nor a wizard of sufficient skill to purchase it from. One item that caught Barion's eye, was a Wand of the War Mage, a powerful spell focus that he sought to improve his abilities in combat at the Fen Side Trader, the entire group negotiating to purchase the item, eventually the brothers Erfort and Beufort agreed with the brothers Barion and Darion to trade the wand for the Halberd of the Drake that they had obtained from Frulam Mondath. Kadmos travelled to The Worn Quill, wanting to find the Find Familiar spell for Barion as a gift, instead he searched through some travelogues, finding one interesting page referencing something called The Black Death that was pursuing a vessel in the Meer. Grabbing a stack of books, Kadmos paid the dwarven merchant and returned to the group for a drink. The rest of the group had been sending letters, Barion wrote a letter with Darion to their brother Larion in Greenest to tell him they were well and were still seeking justice for Greenest. Rack sent one to Ezrin the Forked at Odd Ends in Eldswall to request that his Boots of Swiftness could be transferred to him as soon as possible, telling him that he would be in Easthearth in a few days. When Rack approached Tom, the harbourmaster's assistant, he exclaimed how strange it was to see another dragonborn, and when pressed mentioned that a black dragonborn had passed through the town no more then a tenday ago, the group believed this to be Rezmir, the cult leader from Greenest. The next day the caravan had taken on a number of new members, in particular a man named Azbara Jos, who stood out completely in Rimecost, the group noting he was likely from Vhir, likely a Zelfolk. He joined a wagon that had refused to let anyone else join throughout the journey, they grew suspicious, deciding that that wagon, the one Munder was a member of, and the one they new for certain was a cult wagon after its contents were spilled, were the likely candidates to be the cults wagons.Kadmos noticed that another new addition to the caravan, a gnome woman, was also interested in Azbara Jos, and was watching many people, appearing to gather information. He noticed too that she had noticed him watching her. Around seven days from Easthearth the group were eating their oatmeal breakfast when the gnome approached them, taking the bowl from Kadmos she stabbed her knife into what appeared to be a wheat husk, but showed how it unfurled was a piece of bone containing a poison that would have killed the elf if he'd consumed it. She introduced herself as Jamna Gleamsilver and asked them to meet later, warning them to watch out for any other poisons in their food. While the others searched theirs for bone fragments, Rack wolfed into his, happy to risk the poison for the sake of a good breakfast. That night Jamna asked the group what they believed was in the cult's wagons, they told her it was treasure, she offered to have a look inside for them, if they provided a distraction. She pointed out that it was strange that a Zelfolk was chumming up with the Cult of the Dragon, and went to inspect the wagon he was in whilst the group provided a distraction. Deciding that a fight would be the best way to draw attention to themselves, Darion and Kadmos dueled, as Barion drew as much attention to the brawl as possible, even taking bets on the two. Eventually Kadmos relented and the fight was finished, Barion collecting some winnings he had earned, the group found Jamna who confirmed that there was treasure inside the wagon, though Rack exclaimed that they already knew that. Two days from Easthearth, there was a murder. At first Darion believed it to have been the vampire but when the caravan and its travellers surrounded the corpse, it was discovered to be Munder, the cultist that had accused Kadmos of killing his friend. The other members of Munder's wagon, cultists, accused Kadmos of killing him, pointing to the sword on his back as the murder weapon, though as the group pointed out, and were backed up by the rest of the caravan, who at this point they had saved the lives of many and been quite friendly too, many people had swords in the caravan and it could not be proven. Trying to come up with other evidence to pin the murder on Kadmos, Losvius asked if the killer had stolen anything, when they realised that people might want to check what was in their wagon the cultists ceased their accusations and dragged the body of their comrade's body away. The merchants agreed that there was nothing they could do, the gods would punish the responsible party and that they could report it to the Dredger's Federation in Easthearth if they cared enough. Reaching Easthearth, the merchants thanked the group and told them that if they needed work in the future they would be welcome next year to join them. The majority of wagons travelled into the town, though three did not, the wagons of the cult peeled off and waited at a warehouse where they met other wagons. Jamna offered to stay and watch them whilst the group went into Easthearth to get supplies, they were in fact meeting with Carlon Amoffel and the other Unbidden agents there. After shopping around a bit, the group eventually met Carlon at The Toad's Stool, where he showed them into a private room where an elven woman with dark hair and a human woman with silver hair sat, the former introduced themselves as Remallia Haventree and Elia, Unbidden agents that were asked to bring a payment to the the group by Leosin Erlanthar, a fist sized ruby worth 1200gp. After discussing what their plan was, Remallia once again offered to allow them to join the Unbidden, the group however were not interested at first as Darion accused them of being overly secretive and unable to track a cult, pointing to the failure of Carlon on his mission, things that Elia found quite amusing. After explaining what the Unbidden do, and clearing up the confusion the group seemed to have, Kadmos offered to join under Remallia's sponsorship, Elia gifting him a Shared Bag of Holding, which Carlon explained was their method of communication and sharing resources. Elia asked Barion why he seemed sad, him admitting that he had recently lost his familiar, a silver psuedodragon akin to the one she had, at hearing that he could not cast the spell to resummon it, she offered to teach it to him. For two hours she explained the spell to him, Barion noting that she was not a wizard but an innate spellcaster, and was a master of powerful magicks, but she was able to teach him the spell and once again Murry was summoned. The two women left the inn and Carlon stayed for sometime after to thank the group for helping him, but eventually he too left. As the group drank in the private room there was a tapping at the window, opening it up, a snake with wings flew into the room, flapping around until it stopped in front of Darion, presenting a small scroll tied around it's neck which contained a message from Jamna to return as the cult were moving. The snake scurried off, and the group packed up an set off to Jamna. Walking with Jamna, she told them the cult had met up with another group and set off to another warehouse where they had joined up with another caravan. When they arrived the met Ardred Briferhew, the commander of a guard set up to protect workers at Carnath Roadhouse, an effort by Hoddendale and the Dredger's Federation to build a road connecting their eastern lands. Deciding to join the caravan, the group go back to their horses in Easthearth where they see Barra is waiting at the docks. Approaching them he announces that he wants to return to the sea, looking out at the Great Meer Lake, hoping to reconnect with the faith he has lost. Wishing one another the best, the group set off after the cult, leaving the bronze dragonborn to rediscover what was lost from his life. Joining the caravan, the group bid Jamna farewell, as she had received a message calling her elsewhere, as they set off east, the cultist giving them angry glances as they saw they were joining them. After two days the caravan reached Carnath Roadhouse, where Bog Luck, the half-orc superintendent started barking out orders at the workers. The group set about gathering information, Kadmos noticing that Rit Keenblade, the young man he had met working the cult wagon was there as well. Darion set off to the stables where he met Wump, a young stable hand that was suspicious of what was going on around the roadhouse, pointing out that most of the people here did not have any gold, or at least not enough to risk getting caught stealing it, so why have a whole store room locked just for that. Barion met with Gristle Pete, the cook, who claimed to not have gotten very much sleep as critters and rats were keeping him up all night in the warehouse, hearing this the group believed there must be secret meetings happening in the warehouse at night. Seeking to confirm their suspicions, Darion went out to find a cultist from the Eldswall caravan, finding Meric Vunn, a young man seeking to learn the draconic language. Offering to get him a tutor, Darion took him to see Rack in the room that they had claimed as theirs, there Meric asked Rack a number of questions but Rack was not interested in teaching him draconic, stating why would he teach that to a member of the cult, which prompt Meric to realise that they were not guards and he tried to flee, Kadmos tripping him up and dragging him back into the room. The group began to grill him for information, he claimed that if there were secret meetings going on at night he was not invited, and that Rezmir had promised to teach him spells but she was not here and he did not know when they were supposed to move on, he wanted to learn more but he was being left behind with the grunts and ruffians like Bog Luck. After threatening Meric not to tell anyone about this, promising to give him enough gold to get to the Dragon Lands and that they were under his protection they let him go. Kadmos followed him across the courtyard back up the balcony to a room down the corridor where he went inside, Kadmos listened through the wall, hearing the people inside speak about "strong room", "tunnel", "lizardfolk" and "Bog Luck". Meanwhile, Darion told Wump to look out for a man reading a book, to watch him for anything suspicious. Not hearing anything spoken by Meric, Kadmos returned to the group to inform them of what he heard, with that Darion surmised that there was a secret tunnel in the strongroom, and that they needed to get inside to be sure. Deciding to wait until nightfall, the group discussed how they might get past the lock, Barion believing he he could think up a spell that could get them past it. Category:Blog posts